This case arose when the Louisiana Supreme Court tightened up its restrictions on law students and law school clinics practicing law in Louisiana state courts. The court adopted these amendments after the Tulane Environmental Law Clinic led a coalition of environmental activists in an effort to block construction of a plastics plant. More than a dozen activist organizations filed a complaint in federal district court against the Louisiana Supreme Court, alleging that the new restrictions on law student legal practice violated various provisions of the federal and Louisiana constitutions. In its brief WLF argued that under our federal system a federal court must give great deference to a state supreme court’s rules regulating the practice of law in that state. On May 29, 2001 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit agreed with WLF and upheld the restrictions.
